Bo Diddley
Encyclopedia
Ellas Otha Bates known by his stage name
Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues
vocalist, guitar
ist, songwriter
(usually as Ellas McDaniel), and inventor. He was also known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from the blues
to rock & roll, influencing a host of acts including Buddy Holly
, Jimi Hendrix
, The Rolling Stones
, The Velvet Underground
, The Who
, The Clash
, The Yardbirds
, and Eric Clapton
. He introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound on a wide-ranging catalog of songs. Accordingly, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation
and a Grammy Award
from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
. He was known in particular for his technical innovations, including his trademark rectangular guitar.
, as Ellas Otha Bates, he was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed, becoming Ellas McDaniel. In 1934, the McDaniel family moved to the largely black South Side area of Chicago, where the young man dropped the name Otha and became known as Ellas McDaniel, until his musical ambitions demanded that he take on a more catchy identity. In Chicago, he was an active member of his local Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he studied the trombone
and the violin
, becoming proficient enough on the latter for the musical director to invite him to join the orchestra, with which he performed until the age of 18. He was more impressed, however, by the pulsating, rhythmic music he heard at a local Pentecostal Church, as well as an interest in the guitar.
Inspired by a concert where he saw John Lee Hooker
perform, he supplemented his work as a carpenter and mechanic with a developing career playing on street corners
with friends, including Jerome Green (c. 1934–1973), in a band called The Hipsters (later The Langley Avenue Jive Cats). During the summer of 1943–44, he played for tips at the Maxwell Street
market in a band with Earl Hooker
. By 1951 he was playing on the street with backing from Roosevelt Jackson (on washtub bass) and Jody Williams
(whom he had taught to play the guitar). Williams later played lead guitar on "Who Do You Love?
" (1956). In 1951 he landed a regular spot at the 708 Club on Chicago's South Side
, with a repertoire influenced by Louis Jordan
, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters
.
In late 1954, he teamed up with harmonica
player Billy Boy Arnold
, drummer
Clifton James, and bass player
Roosevelt Jackson, and recorded demos
of "I'm A Man
" and "Bo Diddley
". They re-recorded the songs at Chess Studios
with a backing ensemble
comprising Otis Spann
(piano), Lester Davenport
(harmonica), Frank Kirkland (drums), and Jerome Green (maracas). The record was released in March 1955, and the A-side
, "Bo Diddley", became a #1 R&B hit.
McDaniel adopted the stage name "Bo Diddley". The origin of the name is somewhat unclear, as several differing stories and claims exist. Diddley claims that his peers gave him the nickname, which he first suspected to be an insult. Bo Diddley himself said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother was familiar with, while harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold
once said in an interview that it was originally the name of a local comedian that Leonard Chess
borrowed for the song title and artist name for Bo Diddley's first single. A "diddley bow
" is a typically homemade American string instrument of African origin, probably developed from instruments found on the coast of west Africa.
, a popular television variety show
, where he infuriated the host
. "I did two songs and he got mad," Bo Diddley later recalled. "Ed Sullivan said that I was one of the first colored boys to ever double-cross him. Said that I wouldn't last six months". The show had requested that he sing the Merle Travis
-penned Tennessee Ernie Ford
hit "Sixteen Tons
", but when he appeared on stage, he sang "Bo Diddley" instead. This substitution resulted in his being banned from further appearances.
The request came about because Sullivan's people heard Diddley casually singing "Sixteen Tons" in the dressing room. Diddley's accounts of the event were inconsistent.
Chess included Diddley's recording of "Sixteen Tons" on the album Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger
, which was originally released in 1960.
He continued to have hits through the rest of the 1950s and even the 1960s, including "Pretty Thing" (1956), "Say Man" (1959), and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover
" (1962). He released a string of albums whose titles, including Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger and Have Guitar, Will Travel, bolstered his self-invented legend. Between 1958 and 1963, Checker Records
released 11 full-length albums by Bo Diddley. Although he broke through as a crossover artist with white audiences (appearing at the Alan Freed
concerts, for example), he rarely tailored his compositions to teenage concerns.
In 1963, he starred in a UK concert tour with the Everly Brothers and Little Richard
. The Rolling Stones
, still barely known outside London at that time, appeared as a supporting act on the same bill.
In addition to the many songs recorded by him, in 1956 he co-wrote, with Jody Williams, the pioneering pop song
"Love Is Strange
", a hit for Mickey & Sylvia
in 1957.
Bo Diddley was one of the first American male musicians to include women in his band, including "The Duchess" Norma-Jean Wofford
, Peggy Jones (aka "Lady Bo"), Cornelia Redmond (aka Cookie), and Debby Hastings, who led his band for the final 25 years of his performing career. He also set up one of the first home recording
studios
.
contained his song "Bo Diddley", in which a crow idly finger-pops
along to the track.
Bo Diddley spent many years in New Mexico
, living in Los Lunas, New Mexico
from 1971 to 1978 while continuing his musical career. He served for two and a half years as Deputy Sheriff in the Valencia County
Citizens' Patrol; during that time he personally purchased and donated three highway patrol pursuit cars. In the late 1970s, Diddley left Los Lunas and moved to Hawthorne, Florida
where he lived on a large estate in a custom made log-cabin home, which he helped to build. For the remainder of his life he spent time between Albuquerque, New Mexico
and Florida, living the last 13 years of his life in Archer, Florida
, a small farming town near Gainesville
.
He appeared as an opening act for The Clash
in their 1979 US tour; in Legends of Guitar (filmed live in Spain, 1991) with B.B. King, Les Paul
, Albert Collins
, George Benson
, among others, and joined The Rolling Stones
as a guest on their 1994 concert broadcast of Voodoo Lounge
, performing "Who Do You Love?
" with the band. Sheryl Crow
and Robert Cray
also appeared on the pay-per-view special.
, following a stroke
after a concert in Council Bluffs, Iowa
on May 12. Starting the show, he had complained that he did not feel well. He referred to smoke from the wildfires that were ravaging South Georgia and blowing south to the area near his home in Archer, Florida. Nonetheless, he delivered an energetic performance to an enthusiastic crowd. The next day, as Bo Diddley was heading back home, he seemed dazed and confused at the airport. His manager, Margo Lewis, called 911 and airport security and Bo was immediately taken by ambulance to Creighton University Medical Center and admitted to the Intensive-care unit, where he stayed for several days. After numerous tests, it was confirmed that Bo Diddley had suffered a stroke
. He had a history of hypertension
and diabetes, and the stroke affected the left side of his brain, causing receptive and expressive aphasia
(speech impairment). The stroke was followed by a heart attack
, suffered in Gainesville, Florida, on August 28, 2007.
While recovering from the stroke and heart attack, Diddley came back to his home town of McComb, Mississippi, in early November 2007 for the unveiling of a plaque devoted to him on the National Blues Trail stating that he was "acclaimed as a founder of rock and roll." He was not supposed to perform, but as he listened to the music of local musician Jesse Robinson who sang a song written for this occasion, Robinson sensed that he wanted to perform and handed him a microphone. That was the first and last time that Bo Diddley performed publicly after suffering a stroke.
at his home in Archer, Florida. Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of more than 35 family members at the musician's home when he died at 1:45 a.m. EDT (05:45 GMT), said his death was not unexpected. "There was a gospel song
that was sung (at his bedside) and (when it was done) he said 'wow' with a thumbs up," Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at Diddley's deathbed. "The song was 'Walk Around Heaven' and in his last words he said 'I'm going to heaven.'"
His funeral, a four-hour "homegoing" service, took place on June 7, 2008, at Showers of Blessings Church in Gainesville, Florida and kept in tune with the vibrant spirit of Bo Diddley's life and career. The many in attendance chanted "Hey Bo Diddley" as a gospel band played the legend's music. A number of notable musicians sent flowers, including: George Thorogood
, Tom Petty
, and Jerry Lee Lewis
. Little Richard
, who had been asking his audiences to pray for Bo Diddley throughout his illness, had to fulfill concert commitments in Westbury and New York City the weekend of the funeral. He took time to remember Bo Diddley, his friend of a half-century, performing his namesake tune in his honor.
After the funeral service, a tribute concert was held at the Martin Luther King Center, also in Gainesville, and featured performances by his son and daughter, Anthony McDaniel and Evelyn Kelly, long-time background vocalist Gloria Jolivet, co-producer Scott "Skyntyte" Free, Diddley's touring band, The Debby Hastings Band, and guest artist Eric Burdon
.
In the days following his death, tributes were paid to him by then-President George W. Bush
, the United States House of Representatives
, and an uncounted number of musicians and performers, including Eric Burdon
, Elvis Costello
, Ronnie Hawkins
, Mick Jagger
, B. B. King
, Tom Petty
, Robert Plant
, Bonnie Raitt
, George Thorogood, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the Black Lips
and Ronnie Wood. He was posthumously awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts
degree by the University of Florida
for his influence on American popular music and in its "People in America" radio series about influential people in American history, the Voice of America
radio service paid tribute to him, describing how "his influence was so widespread that it is hard to imagine what rock and roll would have sounded like without him." Mick Jagger
stated that "he was a wonderful, original musician who was an enormous force in music and was a big influence on The Rolling Stones
. He was very generous to us in our early years and we learned a lot from him." Jagger also praised the late star as a one of a kind musician, adding, "We will never see his like again. As his bass player Debby Hastings said: he was the rock that the roll was built on."
The documentary film Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street
by director Phil Ranstrom
features Bo Diddley's last on-camera interview.
In November 2009 the guitar used by Diddley in his last-ever stage performance sold for $60,000 at auction.
. In the late 1980s, he teamed with Bo Jackson
in Nike's
famous "Bo Knows
" commercials, saying his one line: "Bo, you don't know Diddley!"
In 1998, Bo appeared alongside legendary guitarists B.B. King, Eric Clapton
, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter as members of the Louisiana Gator Boys in the film Blues Brothers 2000
.
In 2003, Bo was cast as himself in an episode of According to Jim
, titled Bo Diddley.
by George Thorogood
and the Destroyers as a pool shark.
In 2003, U.S. Representative John Conyers
paid tribute to Bo Diddley in the United States House of Representatives
describing him as "one of the true pioneers of rock and roll, who has influenced generations".
In 2004, Mickey
and Sylvia's 1956 recording of his song "Love Is Strange
" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of qualitative or historical significance, and he was inducted into the Blues Foundation's
Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone
ranked him #20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In 2005, Bo Diddley celebrated his 50th anniversary in music with successful tours of Australia and Europe, and with coast-to-coast shows across North America. He performed his song "Bo Diddley" with Eric Clapton
, Robbie Robertson
, and longtime bassist and musical director Debby Hastings at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
's 20th annual induction ceremony and in the UK, Uncut
magazine included his 1957 debut album "Bo Diddley" in its listing of the '100 Music, Movie & TV Moments That Have Changed The World'.
In 2006, Bo Diddley participated as the headliner of a grassroots
organized fundraiser concert, to benefit the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi
, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina
. The "Florida Keys for Katrina Relief" had originally been set for October 23, 2005, when Hurricane Wilma
barreled through the Florida Keys
on October 24, causing flooding and economic mayhem. In January 2006, the Florida Keys had recovered enough to host the fundraising concert to benefit the more hard-hit community of Ocean Springs. When asked about the fundraiser Bo Diddley stated, "This is the United States of America. We believe in helping one another.". In an interview with Holger Petersen, on Saturday Night Blues
on CBC Radio
in the fall of 2006 Bo Diddley commented about the racism
that existed in the music industry establishment during the early part of his career that saw him deprived of his royalties
from the most successful part of his career.
Bo Diddley performed a number of shows around the country in 2005 and 2006 with the fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson Band
, featuring Johnson on keyboards, Richard Hunt on drums, and Gus Thornton on bass. But from 1985 until he died, his touring band consisted of Debby Hastings (bass/musical director), Frank Daley or Nunzio Signore (guitar), Tom Major, Dave Johnson, Yoshi Shimada or Sandy Gennaro
(drums), and his personal manager, Margo Lewis (keyboards).
-like beat similar to "hambone
", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes. Somewhat resembling "shave and a haircut, two bits"
beat, Diddley came across it while trying to play Gene Autry
's "(I've Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle". Three years before Bo's "Bo Diddley", a song that closely resembles it, "Hambone", was cut by Red Saunders
' Orchestra with The Hambone Kids.
In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as a two-bar phrase:
The bolded counts are the clave
rhythm.
His songs (for example, "Hey Bo Diddley
" and "Who Do You Love?
") often have no chord
changes; that is, the musicians play the same chord throughout the piece, so that the rhythms create the excitement, rather than having the excitement generated by harmonic tension and release
. In his other recordings, Bo Diddley used a variety of rhythms, from straight back beat
to pop
ballad
style to doo-wop
, frequently with maracas by Jerome Green.
Also an influential guitar player, he developed many special effects and other innovations in tone and attack. Bo Diddley's trademark instrument was the rectangular-bodied Gretsch
nicknamed "The Twang Machine" (referred to as "cigar-box shaped" by music promoter Dick Clark). Although he had other odd-shaped guitars custom-made for him by other manufacturers throughout the years, most notably the "Cadillac" design made by Tom Holmes (who also made guitars for ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, among others), Diddley fashioned the square guitar himself around 1958 and wielded it in thousands of concerts over the years. In a 2005 interview on JJJ
radio in Australia, Bo implied that the design sprang from an embarrassing moment. During an early gig, while jumping around on stage with a Gibson L5
guitar, he landed awkwardly hurting his groin. He then went about designing a smaller, less restrictive guitar that allowed him to keep jumping around on stage while still playing his guitar. He also played the violin
, which is featured on his mournful instrumental
"The Clock Strikes Twelve", a 12-bar blues.
He often created lyrics as witty and humorous adaptations of folk music
themes. The song "Bo Diddley" was based on the African American clapping rhyme "Hambone
" (which in turn was based on the lullaby
"Hush Little Baby
"). Likewise, "Hey Bo Diddley" is based on the song "Old MacDonald". The rap
-style boasting of "Who Do You Love", a wordplay on hoodoo, used many striking lyrics from the African-American tradition of toasts and boasts. His "Say Man" and "Say Man, Back Again," both of which were later cited as progenerators of hip-hop music, share a strong connection to the insult game known as "the dozens
". For example: "You got the nerve to call somebody ugly, why you so ugly the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested".
by other artists.
historic marker placed in McComb
, his birthplace, in recognition of his enormous contribution to the development of the blues in Mississippi.
On June 5, 2009 the city of Gainesville, Florida
, officially renamed and dedicated its downtown plaza the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. The plaza was the site of many benefit concerts at which Bo Diddley performed during his lifetime to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless in Alachua County, and to raise money for local charities, including the Red Cross.
The Obamas' dog, Bo, is also said to be named after him.
The Mario characters known as Boos were originally called "Boo Diddleys" in Super Mario Bros. 3
as a reference to Bo Diddley, though this was long before Bo Diddley died.
Peter Cook
& Dudley Moore
did a sketch in which Moore played a character called "(the famous coloured singer) Bo Dudley" in reference to Diddley. Moore's vocal performance during the sketch, however, was a parody of James Brown
's "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag".
Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain
have frequently cited Bo Diddley as an influence. This is most notable via the song 'Bo Diddley Is Jesus', a b-side to their 1987 UK Top Ten hit April Skies
, the 12-inch version of which also included a cover of Bo Diddley's Who Do You Love?
.
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
vocalist, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
(usually as Ellas McDaniel), and inventor. He was also known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
to rock & roll, influencing a host of acts including Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
, and Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
. He introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound on a wide-ranging catalog of songs. Accordingly, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation
Rhythm and Blues Foundation
The Rhythm and Blues Foundation is an independent American nonprofit organization dedicated to the historical and cultural preservation of rhythm and blues music....
and a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...
. He was known in particular for his technical innovations, including his trademark rectangular guitar.
Early life and career
Born in McComb, MississippiMcComb, Mississippi
McComb is a city in Pike County, Mississippi, United States, about south of Jackson. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 13,644. It is the principal city of the McComb, Mississippi, Micropolitan Statistical Area...
, as Ellas Otha Bates, he was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed, becoming Ellas McDaniel. In 1934, the McDaniel family moved to the largely black South Side area of Chicago, where the young man dropped the name Otha and became known as Ellas McDaniel, until his musical ambitions demanded that he take on a more catchy identity. In Chicago, he was an active member of his local Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he studied the trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
and the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, becoming proficient enough on the latter for the musical director to invite him to join the orchestra, with which he performed until the age of 18. He was more impressed, however, by the pulsating, rhythmic music he heard at a local Pentecostal Church, as well as an interest in the guitar.
Inspired by a concert where he saw John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
perform, he supplemented his work as a carpenter and mechanic with a developing career playing on street corners
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
with friends, including Jerome Green (c. 1934–1973), in a band called The Hipsters (later The Langley Avenue Jive Cats). During the summer of 1943–44, he played for tips at the Maxwell Street
Maxwell Street
Maxwell Street is an east-west street in Chicago, Illinois that intersects with Halsted Street just south of Roosevelt Road. It runs at 1330 South in the numbering system running from 500 West to 1126 West. The Maxwell Street neighborhood is considered part of the Near West Side and is one of the...
market in a band with Earl Hooker
Earl Hooker
Earl Hooker was an American Chicago blues guitarist, perhaps best known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", Hooker performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker as well as fronting his own bands...
. By 1951 he was playing on the street with backing from Roosevelt Jackson (on washtub bass) and Jody Williams
Jody Williams (blues musician)
Joseph Leon Williams , better known as Jody Williams, is an American blues guitarist and singer. His singular guitar playing, marked by flamboyant string-bending, imaginative chord changes and a distinctive tone, was influential in the Chicago blues scene of the 1950s.-Career:In the mid 1950s,...
(whom he had taught to play the guitar). Williams later played lead guitar on "Who Do You Love?
Who Do You Love?
"Who Do You Love?" is a song written and recorded in 1956 by Bo Diddley. The record features Jody Williams, then a member of Bo Diddley's band, on lead guitar.-Legacy:...
" (1956). In 1951 he landed a regular spot at the 708 Club on Chicago's South Side
South Side (Chicago)
The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...
, with a repertoire influenced by Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
.
In late 1954, he teamed up with harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
player Billy Boy Arnold
Billy Boy Arnold
Billy Boy Arnold is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.-Biography:...
, drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Clifton James, and bass player
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Roosevelt Jackson, and recorded demos
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
of "I'm A Man
I'm A Man (Bo Diddley song)
"I'm a Man" is a song written and recorded by Bo Diddley in 1955. A moderately slow blues with a stop-time figure, it was inspired by an earlier blues song and became a #1 R&B chart hit. "I'm a Man" has been acknowledged by Rolling Stone magazine and has been recorded by a variety of artists,...
" and "Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley (song)
"Bo Diddley" is a rhythm and blues song first recorded and sung by Bo Diddley at the Universal Recording Studio in Chicago and released on the Chess Records subsidiary, Checker Records in 1955. It became an immediate hit single that stayed on the R&B charts for a total of 18 weeks, 2 of those weeks...
". They re-recorded the songs at Chess Studios
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
with a backing ensemble
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
comprising Otis Spann
Otis Spann
Otis Spann was an American blues musician, who many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style....
(piano), Lester Davenport
Lester Davenport
Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport , was an American Chicago blues harmonica player and singer.Born in Tchula, Mississippi, United States, Davenport moved from Mississippi to Chicago, Illinois, when he was 14...
(harmonica), Frank Kirkland (drums), and Jerome Green (maracas). The record was released in March 1955, and the A-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
, "Bo Diddley", became a #1 R&B hit.
McDaniel adopted the stage name "Bo Diddley". The origin of the name is somewhat unclear, as several differing stories and claims exist. Diddley claims that his peers gave him the nickname, which he first suspected to be an insult. Bo Diddley himself said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother was familiar with, while harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold
Billy Boy Arnold
Billy Boy Arnold is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.-Biography:...
once said in an interview that it was originally the name of a local comedian that Leonard Chess
Leonard Chess
Leonard Chess was a record company executive and the founder of Chess Records. He was influential in the development of electric blues.- Early life :...
borrowed for the song title and artist name for Bo Diddley's first single. A "diddley bow
Diddley bow
The diddley bow is a string instrument of African origin made popular in America, probably developed from instruments found on the Ghana coast of west Africa. The diddley bow is rarely heard outside the rural south...
" is a typically homemade American string instrument of African origin, probably developed from instruments found on the coast of west Africa.
Success in the 1950s and 1960s
On November 20, 1955, he appeared on The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, a popular television variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
, where he infuriated the host
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 , which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S...
. "I did two songs and he got mad," Bo Diddley later recalled. "Ed Sullivan said that I was one of the first colored boys to ever double-cross him. Said that I wouldn't last six months". The show had requested that he sing the Merle Travis
Merle Travis
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon"...
-penned Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford
Ernest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...
hit "Sixteen Tons
Sixteen Tons
"Sixteen Tons" is a song about the life of a coal miner, first recorded in 1946 by American country singer Merle Travis and released on his box set album Folk Songs of the Hills the following year...
", but when he appeared on stage, he sang "Bo Diddley" instead. This substitution resulted in his being banned from further appearances.
The request came about because Sullivan's people heard Diddley casually singing "Sixteen Tons" in the dressing room. Diddley's accounts of the event were inconsistent.
Chess included Diddley's recording of "Sixteen Tons" on the album Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger
Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger
Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger is the fifth album by American rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley released in December 1960 by Checker Records. The album title comes from the album's first track called "Gunslinger" and the cover art has Bo Diddley dressed in Western-style clothing. The songs for Bo...
, which was originally released in 1960.
He continued to have hits through the rest of the 1950s and even the 1960s, including "Pretty Thing" (1956), "Say Man" (1959), and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover
You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover
"You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" is a 1962 song by rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley. Written by Willie Dixon, the song was one of Diddley's last record chart hits...
" (1962). He released a string of albums whose titles, including Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger and Have Guitar, Will Travel, bolstered his self-invented legend. Between 1958 and 1963, Checker Records
Checker Records
Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded Tape in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.The label...
released 11 full-length albums by Bo Diddley. Although he broke through as a crossover artist with white audiences (appearing at the Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
concerts, for example), he rarely tailored his compositions to teenage concerns.
In 1963, he starred in a UK concert tour with the Everly Brothers and Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
. The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, still barely known outside London at that time, appeared as a supporting act on the same bill.
In addition to the many songs recorded by him, in 1956 he co-wrote, with Jody Williams, the pioneering pop song
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
"Love Is Strange
Love Is Strange
"Love Is Strange" was a crossover hit by American rhythm and blues duet Mickey & Sylvia, which was released in late November 1956 by the Groove record label.The song was based on a guitar riff by Jody Williams. The co-writers of the song are of some dispute...
", a hit for Mickey & Sylvia
Mickey & Sylvia
Mickey & Sylvia was an American R&B duo, composed of Mickey Baker and Sylvia Robinson. They were the first big seller for Groove Records.Mickey was a music instructor and Sylvia one of his pupils. Baker was inspired to form the group by the success of Les Paul & Mary Ford. They had a Top 20 hit...
in 1957.
Bo Diddley was one of the first American male musicians to include women in his band, including "The Duchess" Norma-Jean Wofford
Norma-Jean Wofford
Norma-Jean Wofford was an American guitarist who played with Bo Diddley and his band from 1962 to 1966.Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she was Bo Diddley's second female guitarist replacing Peggy Jones aka 'Lady Bo'. After Jones left the band, Bo Diddley was asked by disappointed fans what...
, Peggy Jones (aka "Lady Bo"), Cornelia Redmond (aka Cookie), and Debby Hastings, who led his band for the final 25 years of his performing career. He also set up one of the first home recording
Home recording
Home recording is the practice of recording in a private home, rather than in a professional recording studio. A studio set up for home recording is called a "project studio" or "home studio". Home recording is practiced by indie bands, singer-songwriters, hobbyists, podcasters, documentarians,...
studios
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
.
Later years
Over the decades, Bo Diddley's venues ranged from intimate clubs to stadiums. On March 25, 1972, he played with The Grateful Dead at the Academy of Music in New York City. The Grateful Dead released part of this concert as Volume 30 of the band's Dick's Picks concert album series. Also in the early 1970s, the soundtrack for the ground-breaking animated film Fritz The CatFritz the Cat (film)
Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American animated comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi as his feature film debut. Based on the comic strip of the same name by Robert Crumb, the film was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States...
contained his song "Bo Diddley", in which a crow idly finger-pops
Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....
along to the track.
Bo Diddley spent many years in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, living in Los Lunas, New Mexico
Los Lunas, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*72.1% White*2.0% Black*2.5% Native American*0.8% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*4.2% Two or more races*18.3% Other races*57.9% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
from 1971 to 1978 while continuing his musical career. He served for two and a half years as Deputy Sheriff in the Valencia County
Valencia County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*73.2% White*1.4% Black*3.8% Native American*0.5% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*4.0% Two or more races*17.0% Other races*58.3% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
Citizens' Patrol; during that time he personally purchased and donated three highway patrol pursuit cars. In the late 1970s, Diddley left Los Lunas and moved to Hawthorne, Florida
Hawthorne, Florida
Hawthorne is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,417 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hawthorne is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of...
where he lived on a large estate in a custom made log-cabin home, which he helped to build. For the remainder of his life he spent time between Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
and Florida, living the last 13 years of his life in Archer, Florida
Archer, Florida
Archer is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates of 2006, the city had a population of 1,302.The city is named after James T. Archer.-Geography:Archer is located at...
, a small farming town near Gainesville
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
.
He appeared as an opening act for The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
in their 1979 US tour; in Legends of Guitar (filmed live in Spain, 1991) with B.B. King, Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...
, Albert Collins
Albert Collins
Albert Collins was an American electric blues guitarist and singer whose recording career began in the 1960s in Houston and whose fame eventually took him to stages across the US, Europe, Japan and Australia...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, among others, and joined The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
as a guest on their 1994 concert broadcast of Voodoo Lounge
Voodoo Lounge
Voodoo Lounge is the 20th British and 22nd American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in July 1994. As their first new release under their new alliance with Virgin Records, it ended a five-year gap since their last studio album, Steel Wheels in 1989...
, performing "Who Do You Love?
Who Do You Love?
"Who Do You Love?" is a song written and recorded in 1956 by Bo Diddley. The record features Jody Williams, then a member of Bo Diddley's band, on lead guitar.-Legacy:...
" with the band. Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
and Robert Cray
Robert Cray
Robert Cray is an American blues guitarist and singer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has led his own band, as well as an acclaimed solo career.-Career:...
also appeared on the pay-per-view special.
Illness
On May 13, 2007, Bo Diddley was admitted to intensive care in Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, NebraskaOmaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, following a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
after a concert in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs, known until 1852 as Kanesville, Iowathe historic starting point of the Mormon Trail and eventual northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trailsis a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River across...
on May 12. Starting the show, he had complained that he did not feel well. He referred to smoke from the wildfires that were ravaging South Georgia and blowing south to the area near his home in Archer, Florida. Nonetheless, he delivered an energetic performance to an enthusiastic crowd. The next day, as Bo Diddley was heading back home, he seemed dazed and confused at the airport. His manager, Margo Lewis, called 911 and airport security and Bo was immediately taken by ambulance to Creighton University Medical Center and admitted to the Intensive-care unit, where he stayed for several days. After numerous tests, it was confirmed that Bo Diddley had suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. He had a history of hypertension
Hypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...
and diabetes, and the stroke affected the left side of his brain, causing receptive and expressive aphasia
Aphasia
Aphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
(speech impairment). The stroke was followed by a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, suffered in Gainesville, Florida, on August 28, 2007.
While recovering from the stroke and heart attack, Diddley came back to his home town of McComb, Mississippi, in early November 2007 for the unveiling of a plaque devoted to him on the National Blues Trail stating that he was "acclaimed as a founder of rock and roll." He was not supposed to perform, but as he listened to the music of local musician Jesse Robinson who sang a song written for this occasion, Robinson sensed that he wanted to perform and handed him a microphone. That was the first and last time that Bo Diddley performed publicly after suffering a stroke.
Death
Bo Diddley died on June 2, 2008 of heart failureCongestive heart failure
Heart failure often called congestive heart failure is generally defined as the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the needs of the body. Heart failure can cause a number of symptoms including shortness of breath, leg swelling, and exercise intolerance. The condition...
at his home in Archer, Florida. Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of more than 35 family members at the musician's home when he died at 1:45 a.m. EDT (05:45 GMT), said his death was not unexpected. "There was a gospel song
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
that was sung (at his bedside) and (when it was done) he said 'wow' with a thumbs up," Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at Diddley's deathbed. "The song was 'Walk Around Heaven' and in his last words he said 'I'm going to heaven.'"
His funeral, a four-hour "homegoing" service, took place on June 7, 2008, at Showers of Blessings Church in Gainesville, Florida and kept in tune with the vibrant spirit of Bo Diddley's life and career. The many in attendance chanted "Hey Bo Diddley" as a gospel band played the legend's music. A number of notable musicians sent flowers, including: George Thorogood
George Thorogood
George Thorogood is an American blues rock vocalist/guitarist from Wilmington, Delaware, United States, known for his hit song "Bad to the Bone" as well as for covers of blues standards such as Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" and John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One...
, Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
, and Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
. Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
, who had been asking his audiences to pray for Bo Diddley throughout his illness, had to fulfill concert commitments in Westbury and New York City the weekend of the funeral. He took time to remember Bo Diddley, his friend of a half-century, performing his namesake tune in his honor.
After the funeral service, a tribute concert was held at the Martin Luther King Center, also in Gainesville, and featured performances by his son and daughter, Anthony McDaniel and Evelyn Kelly, long-time background vocalist Gloria Jolivet, co-producer Scott "Skyntyte" Free, Diddley's touring band, The Debby Hastings Band, and guest artist Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
.
In the days following his death, tributes were paid to him by then-President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, and an uncounted number of musicians and performers, including Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Ronnie Hawkins
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...
, Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
, B. B. King
B. B. King
Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
, Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
, Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, George Thorogood, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the Black Lips
Black Lips
Black Lips are a "Flower Punk" band from Atlanta, Georgia.-History:The band formed in 1999 in Dunwoody, Georgia after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the Reruns. Alexander and Swilley were known for their crude antics both...
and Ronnie Wood. He was posthumously awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts
Doctor of Fine Arts
Doctor of Fine Arts is doctoral degree in fine arts, typically given as an honorary degree . The degree is typically conferred to honor the recipient who has made a contribution to society in the arts...
degree by the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
for his influence on American popular music and in its "People in America" radio series about influential people in American history, the Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
radio service paid tribute to him, describing how "his influence was so widespread that it is hard to imagine what rock and roll would have sounded like without him." Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
stated that "he was a wonderful, original musician who was an enormous force in music and was a big influence on The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
. He was very generous to us in our early years and we learned a lot from him." Jagger also praised the late star as a one of a kind musician, adding, "We will never see his like again. As his bass player Debby Hastings said: he was the rock that the roll was built on."
The documentary film Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street
Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street
Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street is a 90 minute documentary film, narrated by actor Joe Mantegna, which details the rise and fall of Chicago's Maxwell Street...
by director Phil Ranstrom
Phil Ranstrom
Phil Ranstrom is an American documentary film director living in Chicago, Illinois and has been writing, producing and directing documentaries since the early 1980s...
features Bo Diddley's last on-camera interview.
In November 2009 the guitar used by Diddley in his last-ever stage performance sold for $60,000 at auction.
Bit acting parts
His pawnbroker character's offering Louis Winthorpe III "fifty bucks" created one of more quoted scenes in 1983's Trading PlacesTrading Places
Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film, of the satire genre, directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet...
. In the late 1980s, he teamed with Bo Jackson
Bo Jackson
Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson is a former American baseball and football player. He was the first athlete to be named an All-Star in two major American sports, and also won the Heisman Trophy in 1985....
in Nike's
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
famous "Bo Knows
Bo Knows
"Bo Knows" was an advertising campaign for Nike cross-training shoes that ran in 1989 and 1990 and featured professional baseball and American football player Bo Jackson....
" commercials, saying his one line: "Bo, you don't know Diddley!"
In 1998, Bo appeared alongside legendary guitarists B.B. King, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter as members of the Louisiana Gator Boys in the film Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Directed by John Landis, the film featured Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameos by many musicians.-Plot:...
.
In 2003, Bo was cast as himself in an episode of According to Jim
According to Jim
According to Jim is an American sitcom television series starring Jim Belushi in the title role as a suburban father of three children. It originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2001 to June 2, 2009.-Synopsis:Jim is an abrasive but lovable suburban father...
, titled Bo Diddley.
Music Videos
In 1982, Bo was featured in the music video, Bad To The BoneBad to the Bone
"Bad to the Bone" is a song by George Thorogood and the Destroyers released in 1982 on the album of the same name. While it was not a major hit on initial release, its video made recurrent appearances on the nascent MTV, which was created a year before...
by George Thorogood
George Thorogood
George Thorogood is an American blues rock vocalist/guitarist from Wilmington, Delaware, United States, known for his hit song "Bad to the Bone" as well as for covers of blues standards such as Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" and John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One...
and the Destroyers as a pool shark.
Accolades
Bo Diddley achieved numerous accolades in recognition of his significant role as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll.- 1986: inducted into the Washington Area Music Association's Hall of Fame.
- 1987: inducted the Rock and Roll Hall of FameRock and Roll Hall of FameThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
and the Rockabilly Hall of FameRockabilly Hall of FameThe Rockabilly Hall of Fame was established on the internet on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relative to the artists and personalities involved in this pioneering American music genre....
. - 1990: Lifetime Achievement Award from Guitar PlayerGuitar PlayerGuitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...
magazine. - 1998: Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues FoundationRhythm and Blues FoundationThe Rhythm and Blues Foundation is an independent American nonprofit organization dedicated to the historical and cultural preservation of rhythm and blues music....
and the National Academy of Recording Arts and SciencesNational Academy of Recording Arts and SciencesThe National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...
. - 1999: His 1955 recording of his song "Bo Diddley" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of lasting qualitative or historical significance.
- 2000: Inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and into the North Florida Music Association's Hall of Fame.
- 2002: Pioneer in Entertainment Award from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters
- 2002: Bo Diddley was honored as one of the first BMIBroadcast Music IncorporatedBroadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Chuck BerryChuck BerryCharles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
and Little RichardLittle RichardRichard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
. - 2008: Although confirmed before his death in June 2008, an honorary degree was posthumously conferred upon Diddley by the University of FloridaUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
in August 2008. - 2009: Florida's Secretary of State announces Bo's induction into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame (induction to occur during Florida Heritage Month, March 2010).
- 2010: Bo Diddley was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
In 2003, U.S. Representative John Conyers
John Conyers
John Conyers, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1965 . He is a member of the Democratic Party...
paid tribute to Bo Diddley in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
describing him as "one of the true pioneers of rock and roll, who has influenced generations".
In 2004, Mickey
Mickey Baker
Mickey Baker, also known as Mickey "Guitar" Baker is an American guitarist...
and Sylvia's 1956 recording of his song "Love Is Strange
Love Is Strange
"Love Is Strange" was a crossover hit by American rhythm and blues duet Mickey & Sylvia, which was released in late November 1956 by the Groove record label.The song was based on a guitar riff by Jody Williams. The co-writers of the song are of some dispute...
" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of qualitative or historical significance, and he was inducted into the Blues Foundation's
Blues Foundation
The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 Blues organizations from various parts of the world....
Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
ranked him #20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In 2005, Bo Diddley celebrated his 50th anniversary in music with successful tours of Australia and Europe, and with coast-to-coast shows across North America. He performed his song "Bo Diddley" with Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, and longtime bassist and musical director Debby Hastings at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's 20th annual induction ceremony and in the UK, Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
magazine included his 1957 debut album "Bo Diddley" in its listing of the '100 Music, Movie & TV Moments That Have Changed The World'.
In 2006, Bo Diddley participated as the headliner of a grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
organized fundraiser concert, to benefit the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Ocean Springs is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States, about east of Biloxi. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 17,225 at the 2000 census...
, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. The "Florida Keys for Katrina Relief" had originally been set for October 23, 2005, when Hurricane Wilma
Hurricane Wilma
Hurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the twenty-second storm , thirteenth hurricane, sixth major hurricane, and fourth Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season...
barreled through the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
on October 24, causing flooding and economic mayhem. In January 2006, the Florida Keys had recovered enough to host the fundraising concert to benefit the more hard-hit community of Ocean Springs. When asked about the fundraiser Bo Diddley stated, "This is the United States of America. We believe in helping one another.". In an interview with Holger Petersen, on Saturday Night Blues
Saturday Night Blues
Saturday Night Blues is a Canadian radio program, which airs Saturday nights on CBC Radio One. Hosted by Holger Petersen, the program airs a mix of blues concerts, recordings and interviews with blues musicians. SNB first broadcast in 1986....
on CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
in the fall of 2006 Bo Diddley commented about the racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
that existed in the music industry establishment during the early part of his career that saw him deprived of his royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
from the most successful part of his career.
Bo Diddley performed a number of shows around the country in 2005 and 2006 with the fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson Band
Johnnie Johnson (musician)
Johnnie Johnson was an American pianist and blues musician. His work with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.-Career:...
, featuring Johnson on keyboards, Richard Hunt on drums, and Gus Thornton on bass. But from 1985 until he died, his touring band consisted of Debby Hastings (bass/musical director), Frank Daley or Nunzio Signore (guitar), Tom Major, Dave Johnson, Yoshi Shimada or Sandy Gennaro
Sandy Gennaro
Sandy Gennaro is an American professional rock and roll drummer.Gennaro grew up in Staten Island, New York. He has played with Cyndi Lauper, Joan Jett, Michael Bolton, and The Monkees. Sandy was a member of the Pat Travers Band and more recently has toured with Bo Diddley...
(drums), and his personal manager, Margo Lewis (keyboards).
The Bo Diddley beat
Bo Diddley was well known for the "Bo Diddley beat," a rumbaRumba (dance)
Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings.In some contexts, "rumba" is used as shorthand for Afro-Cuban rumba, a group of dances related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. The most common Afro-Cuban rumba is the guaguancó...
-like beat similar to "hambone
Juba dance
The Juba dance or hambone, originally known as Pattin' Juba , is a style of dance that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks. "Pattin' Juba" would be used to keep time for other dances during a walkaround...
", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes. Somewhat resembling "shave and a haircut, two bits"
Shave and a Haircut
Shave and a Haircut and the associated response "two bits" is a simple, 7-note musical couplet popularly used at the end of a musical performance, usually for comic effect....
beat, Diddley came across it while trying to play Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
's "(I've Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle". Three years before Bo's "Bo Diddley", a song that closely resembles it, "Hambone", was cut by Red Saunders
Red Saunders (musician)
Theodore Dudley "Red" Saunders was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He also played vibraphone and timpani....
' Orchestra with The Hambone Kids.
In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as a two-bar phrase:
- "One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and..."
The bolded counts are the clave
Clave (rhythm)
The clave rhythmic pattern is used as a tool for temporal organization in Afro-Cuban music, such as rumba, conga de comparsa, son, son montuno, mambo, salsa, Latin jazz, songo and timba. The five-stroke clave pattern represents the structural core of many Afro-Cuban rhythms...
rhythm.
His songs (for example, "Hey Bo Diddley
Hey Bo Diddley
"Hey! Bo Diddley" is Bo Diddley's 8th Checker Records single released as a single in April 1957 by Checker Records. The single's b-side was "Mona" .-Recording:...
" and "Who Do You Love?
Who Do You Love?
"Who Do You Love?" is a song written and recorded in 1956 by Bo Diddley. The record features Jody Williams, then a member of Bo Diddley's band, on lead guitar.-Legacy:...
") often have no chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
changes; that is, the musicians play the same chord throughout the piece, so that the rhythms create the excitement, rather than having the excitement generated by harmonic tension and release
Tension and release
Tension and Release is an often used term for analyzing music, to describe how music keeps the interest of a listener. In Western tonal music, ranging from European classical music to modern pop, tension is often thought to derive from the dominant chord...
. In his other recordings, Bo Diddley used a variety of rhythms, from straight back beat
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
to pop
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
style to doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
, frequently with maracas by Jerome Green.
Also an influential guitar player, he developed many special effects and other innovations in tone and attack. Bo Diddley's trademark instrument was the rectangular-bodied Gretsch
Gretsch
The Gretsch Company was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch, a twenty-seven year old German immigrant recently arrived in the US. Friedrich Gretsch manufactured banjos, tambourines, and drums, until his death in 1895. His son, Fred, moved operations to Brooklyn, New York in 1916...
nicknamed "The Twang Machine" (referred to as "cigar-box shaped" by music promoter Dick Clark). Although he had other odd-shaped guitars custom-made for him by other manufacturers throughout the years, most notably the "Cadillac" design made by Tom Holmes (who also made guitars for ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, among others), Diddley fashioned the square guitar himself around 1958 and wielded it in thousands of concerts over the years. In a 2005 interview on JJJ
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
radio in Australia, Bo implied that the design sprang from an embarrassing moment. During an early gig, while jumping around on stage with a Gibson L5
Gibson L5
The Gibson L-5 guitar was first produced in 1922 by Gibson Guitar Corporation, then of Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA under the direction of master luthier Lloyd Loar, and has been in production ever since. It was considered the premier rhythm guitar in the big band era...
guitar, he landed awkwardly hurting his groin. He then went about designing a smaller, less restrictive guitar that allowed him to keep jumping around on stage while still playing his guitar. He also played the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, which is featured on his mournful instrumental
Instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is a type of rock music which emphasizes musical instruments, and which features very little or no singing.Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style, most notably Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Link...
"The Clock Strikes Twelve", a 12-bar blues.
He often created lyrics as witty and humorous adaptations of folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
themes. The song "Bo Diddley" was based on the African American clapping rhyme "Hambone
Juba dance
The Juba dance or hambone, originally known as Pattin' Juba , is a style of dance that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks. "Pattin' Juba" would be used to keep time for other dances during a walkaround...
" (which in turn was based on the lullaby
Lullaby
A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to young children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process. As a result they are often simple and repetitive. Lullabies can be found in every culture and since the ancient period....
"Hush Little Baby
Hush Little Baby
Hush, Little Baby is a traditional lullaby. It is thought to be American , but the author and date of origin are unknown. The lyrics promise all kinds of rewards to the child if he or she is quiet....
"). Likewise, "Hey Bo Diddley" is based on the song "Old MacDonald". The rap
Roots of hip hop
Hip hop music is an element within Hip hop culture, which includes MCing, DJing, graffiti and b-boying. Hip hop music originated within early-1970s block parties in New York City, specifically African American sections of The Bronx, as an alternative to ethnic gangs that proliferated during that era...
-style boasting of "Who Do You Love", a wordplay on hoodoo, used many striking lyrics from the African-American tradition of toasts and boasts. His "Say Man" and "Say Man, Back Again," both of which were later cited as progenerators of hip-hop music, share a strong connection to the insult game known as "the dozens
The dozens
The Dozens is a game that has its origins in African American slavery. The game originates from the devaluing and bargaining off of deformed or defective slaves in auction houses. This element of the African American oral tradition in which two competitors, usually males, go head-to-head in a...
". For example: "You got the nerve to call somebody ugly, why you so ugly the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested".
Notable cover versions
Bo Diddley's songs have frequently been coveredCover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by other artists.
- Captain BeefheartCaptain BeefheartDon Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
covered "Diddy Wah DiddyDiddy Wah Diddy"Diddy Wah Diddy" is a song written by Willie Dixon and Ellas McDaniel—known as Bo Diddley—and recorded by the latter in 1956. Over the years, the song has been covered by many bands and artists, including The Astronauts, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, The Remains, The Twilights, Taj Mahal,...
" in 1966.
- Buddy HollyBuddy HollyCharles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
's rendition of "Bo Diddley" (recorded in 1957) was a posthumous top-10 hit in the UK, peaking at No. 7 in the summer of 1963. - The Rolling StonesThe Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
covered several Bo Diddley numbers in concert and in early BBC RadioBBC RadioBBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
broadcasts. In 1964 they released "I Need You Baby (Mona)" on the UK version of their first albumThe Rolling Stones (album)-Personnel:The Rolling Stones*Mick Jagger – lead and backing vocals, harmonica, percussion*Keith Richards – guitar, backing vocals*Brian Jones – guitar, harmonica, percussion, backing vocals*Charlie Watts – drums, percussion...
(the US version featured their cover of the Diddley-inspired Buddy Holly song "Not Fade AwayNot Fade Away (song)"Not Fade Away" is a song credited to Buddy Holly and Norman Petty and first recorded by Holly's band The Crickets in Clovis, New Mexico, on May 27, 1957...
"). - The KinksThe KinksThe Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
covered "Cadillac" on their debut albumThe Kinks (album)Kinks is the self-titled debut album by the English rock band The Kinks, released in 1964. It was released with three tracks omitted as You Really Got Me in the United States....
in 1964. - The Pretty ThingsThe Pretty ThingsThe Pretty Things are an English rock and roll band from London, who originally formed in 1963. They took their name from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing" and, in their early days, were dubbed by the British press the "uglier cousins of the Rolling Stones". Their most commercially successful...
covered "Road RunnerRoad Runner (Bo Diddley song)"Road Runner" is a song written and performed by American rock and roll performer Bo Diddley, originally released as a single by Checker Records in January 1960, and later released on the LP record Bo Diddley in the Spotlight. The song reached #20 on Billboard magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart, and...
", "She's Fine, She's Mine" and "Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut" on their debut albumThe Pretty Things (album)The Pretty Things is the self titled 1965 release by The Pretty Things which features mostly R&B and Rock & Roll covers. A re-issue of the CD released in 2000 features every track from both the American and British versions of the album....
in 1965, where "Road Runner" was featured as the opening track. "Road Runner" has also been covered by Humble PieHumble Pie (band)Humble Pie was a rock band from England, finding success both in the UK and the US. They are remembered for songs such as "Black Coffee" "30 Days in the Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor", and "Natural Born Bugie"...
, The ZombiesThe ZombiesThe Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
, The AnimalsThe AnimalsThe Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
, The WhoThe WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
and AerosmithAerosmithAerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
. - The AnimalsThe AnimalsThe Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
and Bob SegerBob SegerRobert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
have both covered "The Story of Bo Diddley". - The YardbirdsThe Yardbirds- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
, The WhoThe WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, The RemainsThe RemainsThe Remains were a mid-1960s rock group from Boston, Massachusetts, led by Barry Tashian, who later was harmony vocalist and guitarist for Emmylou Harris and part of the duo, Barry and Holly Tashian...
and the Dutch group Q65 covered "I'm a ManI'm A Man (Bo Diddley song)"I'm a Man" is a song written and recorded by Bo Diddley in 1955. A moderately slow blues with a stop-time figure, it was inspired by an earlier blues song and became a #1 R&B chart hit. "I'm a Man" has been acknowledged by Rolling Stone magazine and has been recorded by a variety of artists,...
". - The Grateful Dead, The WooliesThe WooliesThe Woolies was a rock band from Lansing, Michigan. It was formed in 1964 by Bob Baldori, Stormy Rice, Jeff Baldori, Ron English, and Bee Metros. Their cover of Who Do You Love became a regional hit when it was released as a single in 1966. "Who Do You Love" peaked at # 95 on the Billboard Hot...
, George ThorogoodGeorge ThorogoodGeorge Thorogood is an American blues rock vocalist/guitarist from Wilmington, Delaware, United States, known for his hit song "Bad to the Bone" as well as for covers of blues standards such as Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" and John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One...
, Ronnie HawkinsRonnie HawkinsRonald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...
, The Jesus and Mary ChainThe Jesus and Mary ChainThe Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
and Juicy LucyJuicy Lucy (band)Juicy Lucy is a blues-rock band formed on April 1, 1969. After the demise of The Misunderstood, vocalist Ray Owen, steel guitarist Glenn Ross Campbell, and saxophone player Chris Mercer formed Juicy Lucy...
covered "Who Do You Love", which was also a concert favorite of The DoorsThe DoorsThe Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
. - Quicksilver Messenger ServiceQuicksilver Messenger ServiceQuicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco.-Introduction:Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe and several of their albums ranked...
covered both "Who Do You Love" and "Mona". - Creedence Clearwater RevivalCreedence Clearwater RevivalCreedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
and Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
have both covered "Before You Accuse MeBefore You Accuse Me"Before You Accuse Me" is a blues song written and recorded by rock and roll icon Bo Diddley in 1957. It was released as the B-side to Diddley's "Say Bossman" and was included on his self-titled debut album in 1958...
". - The New York Dolls and The LurkersThe LurkersThe Lurkers were a late 1970s English punk rock group from Uxbridge, West London, notable for being the first group ever on Beggars Banquet Records.-Career:...
have both recorded their own versions of the song "Pills". - Dr. FeelgoodDr. FeelgoodDr. Feelgood may refer to:In music:*Dr. Feelgood , an album by American band Mötley Crüe**"Dr. Feelgood" , a single and the title track from that album*"Dr. Feel Good", a song by Travie McCoy on the album Lazarus...
led off their second album, MalpracticeMalpractice (Dr. Feelgood album)Malpractice was the second Dr. Feelgood album, released in October 1975.The album reached number 17 in the UK Albums Chart in November 1975, and remained in that chart for six weeks...
(1975), with a cover of "I Can Tell." - The ClashThe ClashThe Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
recorded "Mona" during the London CallingLondon CallingLondon Calling is the third studio album by the English punk rock band The Clash. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 December 1979 through CBS Records, and in the United States in January 1980 through Epic Records...
sessions. - Ex-Velvet Underground drummer Maureen TuckerMaureen TuckerMaureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...
counts Diddley as one of her chief influences and covered "Bo Diddley" on her 1989 solo albumSolo albumA solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is...
, Life in Exile After AbdicationLife in Exile After AbdicationLife in Exile after Abdication is the second album by Maureen Tucker, released in 1989. Rather than performing all of the instruments herself, as on her debut album, Tucker is accompanied by performers such as Lou Reed, Jad Fair, Daniel Johnston and members of Sonic Youth.-Track listing:All tracks...
. - Chris IsaakChris IsaakChristopher Joseph "Chris" Isaak is an American rock musician and occasional actor.-Early life:Isaak was born in Stockton, California, the son of Dorothy , a potato chip factory worker, and Joe Isaak, a forklift driver. Isaak's mother is Italian American, originating from Genoa...
covered "Diddley DaddyDiddley Daddy"Diddley Daddy" is a song by rock and roll musician Bo Diddley. The song was issued as a single on Checker Records in June 1955. It was Bo Diddley's second single, and followed on the heels of the success of "Bo Diddley." The song spent four weeks on the Billboard R&B chart in the summer of 1955,...
" on his third album, Heart Shaped World (1989). - Black StrobeBlack StrobeBlack Strobe were formed in Paris in 1997 by producer Arnaud Rebotini and DJ Ivan Smagghe, and were instrumental in the rise of the electroclash movement in the UK with their breakthrough single Me And Madonna...
covered "I'm a Man" on their Album Burn Your Own Church (2007). - Tom PettyTom PettyThomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
has played "I Need You Baby (Mona)" in concert, and performed it with Diddley himself in 1999.
Historic marker and other dedications
Bo Diddley was honored by the Mississippi Blues Commission with a Mississippi Blues TrailMississippi Blues Trail
The Mississippi Blues Trail, created by the Mississippi Blues Commission, is a project to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the growth of the blues throughout the state of Mississippi. The trail extends from the border of Louisiana in southern Mississippi...
historic marker placed in McComb
McComb, Mississippi
McComb is a city in Pike County, Mississippi, United States, about south of Jackson. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 13,644. It is the principal city of the McComb, Mississippi, Micropolitan Statistical Area...
, his birthplace, in recognition of his enormous contribution to the development of the blues in Mississippi.
On June 5, 2009 the city of Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
, officially renamed and dedicated its downtown plaza the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. The plaza was the site of many benefit concerts at which Bo Diddley performed during his lifetime to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless in Alachua County, and to raise money for local charities, including the Red Cross.
The Obamas' dog, Bo, is also said to be named after him.
The Mario characters known as Boos were originally called "Boo Diddleys" in Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. 3
, also referred to as Super Mario 3 and SMB3, is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System , and is the third game in the Super Mario series. The game was released in Japan in 1988, in the United States in 1990, and in Europe in 1991...
as a reference to Bo Diddley, though this was long before Bo Diddley died.
Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
& Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
did a sketch in which Moore played a character called "(the famous coloured singer) Bo Dudley" in reference to Diddley. Moore's vocal performance during the sketch, however, was a parody of James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
's "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag".
Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
have frequently cited Bo Diddley as an influence. This is most notable via the song 'Bo Diddley Is Jesus', a b-side to their 1987 UK Top Ten hit April Skies
April Skies
"April Skies" is a song by the Scottish alternative rock group The Jesus and Mary Chain and the first single from the group's album Darklands. It was released by Blanco y Negro Records in April 1987 and reached #8 in the UK single charts...
, the 12-inch version of which also included a cover of Bo Diddley's Who Do You Love?
Who Do You Love?
"Who Do You Love?" is a song written and recorded in 1956 by Bo Diddley. The record features Jody Williams, then a member of Bo Diddley's band, on lead guitar.-Legacy:...
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External links
- Official website
- Cheat You Fair website
- The Official Bo Diddley MySpace Page
- Exclusive Estate Representatives
- Bo Diddley-The Originator
- IMDB listing of his soundtrack compositions
- Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University – Archival photographs of Bo Diddley from the Toronto Telegram fonds.